air force academy

[Spur]

Is it true that the best offers and duty stations go to the grads with the highest GPA? Again, thanks to all for the responses.

UPT assignments are offered (or at least were) by order of merit (a combination of academic and military peformance averages). #1 dude chooses base and date, then #2 and so on... Dont know anything about non flying assignments. Oh, Ditto Talon83s comments about soaring IPs.

Congrats to your son... It is worth it.

 

[usafa]

Figured the GPA,etc. was the deciding factor. Thats why I have stressed for him to keep a respectible one. He was a 4.0 in high school, but so were all the other cadets at the Academy. That requires some adjustment. But as I told him, do your very best, keep your nose clean and do what you are told. Every thing else will fall into place. I believe time management is the most important thing he has been forced learn so far. They tend to give you more work than you can get done in a given period of time, just to see how you can prioritize.

It is definitely a job AND an education and must be treated as such.
Also, the girls seem to love a guy in uniform!!

 

[qmaster3]

Figured the GPA,etc. was the deciding factor. Thats why I have stressed for him to keep a respectible one. He was a 4.0 in high school, but so were all the other cadets at the Academy. That requires some adjustment. But as I told him, do your very best, keep your nose clean and do what you are told. Every thing else will fall into place. I believe time management is the most important thing he has been forced learn so far. They tend to give you more work than you can get done in a given period of time, just to see how you can prioritize.

It is definitely a job AND an education and must be treated as such.
Also, the girls seem to love a guy in uniform!!

Good luck to your son! BTW we love the girls in uniform to

 

[Merlin'05]

Talon, Thanks for that info for myself as well. That's how I was hoping it would help. We're a lot more structured now too with the flying and are under AETC as of a few months ago.

I asked a number of other people (who I think knew nothing about it) and they got all pissed off and said it would be no help at all.

 

[Talon83]

Merlin

Don't worry about the naysayers. Stay positive. You'll still have to work hard at SUPT. It's not as if they're just going to give you your wings--you'll still have to earn them, but you should have more air sense than the average student pilot. Use your prior flying time to your advantage, be a sponge, and fly the way your IPs teach you.

Good luck. Hope to see you in the sim at Moody later this year.

Cheers

 

[mgg20]

Talon- I'm heading to OTS this August and want to go to UPT at Moody very badly (close to home). Do you or anybody else know if they even care what you put on you BOP? or do they just assign you wherever they please. Also, any tips on moving from Civ---->Mil flying would be appreciated. I'm a low time guy, so I shouldn't have too many bad habits yet. (I hope) Thanks

 

[Talon83]

mgg20

I don't know how the UPT base assignment system works. Ask for the base you want, but you'll get what the assignment folks give you. It doesn't pay to worry about it now.

For the civ-mil flying transition, just learn and fly the way your T-6/T-37 IPs teach you. As an IP, I always taught my students as if they had no time and were starting at the same point on the learning curve. You'll learn some new ways of flying. Use your civilian experiences to build on, but learn and do things the new (military) way. If there is a conflict between the two, fly the way your IPs teach you.

Good luck.

 

[Talon83]

Patmack18 Will the AF not accelerate students through that have prior time?



No, everyone gets the same sorties/hours. You'll want every sortie you can get, anyway.

 

[learherkjay]

Play rugby, drink beer, and get away on the weekend. Then the four years will be worth it!!!

And, I guess study. Having been the product of "severely reduced" pilot training slots in the early 90's, grades have a huge impact on getting to UPT if things start going south. Having just left a UPT IP job at Vance, I can tell you that the AF has been ramping up the numbers of UPT students. In four years if things calm down over in the sand box and the AF does another knee jerk cutting of available slots; USAFA will look at your grades first as they rack and stack you. My class had over 800 pilot qualified cadets and only 225 of us got slots. There were 450 students trained that entire year. So, half of all UPT students that year were Academy grads. That is where the "prospects" help by being at USAFA.
That being said, like everyone else has, nothing but a good attitude will help you once you show up at UPT. Good luck to your son. Son, get back to studying before DI. Good night....

Cheers

 

[usafa]

Learherkjay, Thanks for the info. I know my son will read this, so all comments are helpful. Hopefully when he graduates...Class of 08 (the 50th graduating class), he will have a decent chance. Since he already has his private, maybe that will help also. He seems to favor the A-10. Are slots for it hard to get, since most of the "fighter jocks" seem to favor faster equipment?

 

[learherkjay]

usafa,

Getting an A-10 requires several hurdles to jump through. First, if he goes to any other UPT base besides Sheppard - he will have to make it to the fighter/bomber track from the T-6 (T-37 a some bases, but all of the tweets will be gone by then). Some top students select fighter/bomber some select tanker/transport (T-1 track). If he gets fighter/bomber than he needs to do well enought to be able to select his choice of aircraft from the "drop" of airplanes for his class. Sometimes there are 2 A-10s for one class and none for the other. It all depends on the needs of the AF. Good luck

 

[usafa]

Learherkjay,

That makes sense. He originally was leaning toward tankers/transports. I really don't think he minds too much what he flies. As long as he gets the opportunity. Thanks again for the info. Keep it comin'.

 

[spanky2]

My 2 cents as a zoomie (USAFAPTWOB), T-38 IP (CBM), and Fighter pilot (all over).

One step at a time. Get thru doolie year. Then get thru SERE. Then 3rd degree, etc, etc. Get involved with soaring, jumping, sports, etc. There is much to do outside of the the marble strips. Goals are great and will keep him going but he will learn that zoomies are no better / no worse than ROTC or OTS grads when it comes to UPT. My UPT class was mostly zoomies and several washed out, as did some ROTC and OTS folks. My experience as a T-38 IP at CBM saw the same results...and I will say that students with prior flying time did not always have an advantage, some could not / would not change / adapt to military flying. In the operational world, it does not matter where you received your 2Lt bars.

Good luck.

 

[usafa]

Thanks for the reply, Spanky2, I understand what you're saying. The general consensus is he will do fine if he keeps a good perspective. A military aviator's life will not always be easy, but I still believe, after reading some of the other posts in other catagories, he will be better off in the long run. Especially from an educational standpoint.

 

[usafa]

By the way, he just got his prop and wings the other night...another milestone on the long journey.

 

[spanky2]

I still have my first prop & wings...actually, she-who-must-be-obeyed has them ... and you are correct about the education...my grades did not reflect it but I learned a lot...and jumping out of perfectly good airplanes / cheating death with a rip cord was a ton of fun.

 

[old*art]

Not sure but in my day the Academy grads got regular commissions and the OTS/ROTC were reserve - is this still true ? - another benefit of going to the academy. Half my UPT class were zoomies, and other than chasing all the women and trying to drink all the liguor in south Ga., they were a great group of guys.

 

[TonyC]

Not sure but in my day the Academy grads got regular commissions and the OTS/ROTC were reserve - is this still true ? - another benefit of going to the academy.

Not still true.

Regular commissions and guaranteed pilot training slots were worth the sacrifices made in the foothills of the Rockies. Now commissions are reserve and pilot slots are competitive.

For prosepective pilots, I recommend Air Force Reserve.

USAFA still offers a respectable education and a prestigious degree.

 

[Merlin'05]

Its sorta back now. Everyone is getting regular this year and the only people to not get pilot slots were those not PQ.

To be fair though, ROTC and OTS are also getting regular and not as many people wanted to be pilots this year as in years past.

 

[stonewall]

That's great to hear about the Reg commissions and even better about the pilot slots. My year (10 years ago, plus or minus one) we only got 270 slots for about 700 PQ dudes (and dudettes). The day we got our assignments was tough. I was happy, but it was extremely tough watching a guy you gutted it out with for 4 long years see his dreams crushed. Hell, he coulda done four (or five) years at State U and still been a missileer.